Quartzite, Az.

Quartzite, Az.

Quartzite, Az.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

And so just to have a little fun and some good food we celebrated with a kid/fun filled Halloween party at my daughter's house. My little grandson Juanito kept crying at every turn as he hated one and all of the kids costumes. I swoop him up into my arms and told him that those were all his ugly cousin and he told me "I know who they are but they are still scary". It was just too cute and funny to watch, of course I black mailed him with first pick at the candy bucket and that was not scary for him at all. Ha, ha, I imagined that was more scary for his mom. Can you say sugar rush?

The came from everywhere, ghosts, ghouls, Spartans, wolves, lions, comic book heroes, fairy tale princesses, pirates, rock starts, movie characters, and even a mariachi gordo, they were all there. I swear if any of those kids can sleep tonight it will be a miracle, there were no tricks because we certainly put a bunch of treats on the table and the only goal they had in their mind was to sneak up to it grab candy after candy and run away before a parental unit caught them.

For food we had a very delicious chicken pozole, bean tostadas, potato salad, and the oh so good chips and salsa (my special batch), and to wash this all down sodas and the always popular H20. Kudos to one and all the great cooks and chefs that always contribute their culinary talents and make these feasts possible.

Being around the family is always a treat and this time it was sweeter as Alexis our little first year college girl was here from NAU in Flagstaff. Have a very safe and happy Halloween and remember we celebrate that good will always prevail over evil.

Morty, wolfy, and two beautiful princesses.

Freddy and I, then morty, princess Lena, and I terrified on both pictures. And Gene Simmons whom I kept calling Richard Simmons and Juan.

Booooo but they are all too scary, I know they are my cousins but they are ugly. lol

Friday, October 28, 2011

Next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mark one of my favorite periods in the liturgical year. After the reminder of evil and our own mortality on Halloween and the glorious triumph of good over evil in the lives of those who have conformed themselves to Christ on All Saints Day, we arrive where we always must in this vale of tears: at solidarity with our fellow Christians—in this case, the faithful departed, who are gone from this life but not from our memory. ~ Scott P. Richert

When I was a kid it never failed, once a year we would go and visit my grandmother's grave, had it cleaned, fresh flowers were taken and placed in the flower pots, and we all prayed for her eternal rest. Yet as packed as the cemetery was on "Dia de los Muertos" it was always sort of an eerie feeling. If you,ve never seen a Mexican cemetery trust me it's nothing like the American ones which look like nice manicured parks and have neighborhoods built around them.

But at least once a year we paid respect to our dead by visiting. Then at our house my tia would build an altar where food offerings for our departed would be placed. At the mercados thousands of sugar skulls and coffins were sold which are used to decorate these altars.

It is a dying tradition just as many other traditions have been forgotten as we moved on and adapted to our American way of life and now celebrate Thanksgiving, which to my knowledge is not celebrated in Mexico instead.

A simple altar for some offerings.

But to some diehards such as ourselves certain traditions are always in our minds and in our own way we will still celebrate, so for this coming "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the dead) we will get together and honor all of our dear departed by offering and eating some home made tamales, maybe some arroz con leche, water, and other essential goodies. It should be a nice celebration that will take us back to our roots and traditions.

This altar is a little bit more elaborate.

Dead should never mean forgotten, so this coming Tuesday take a moment to honor and remember those loved ones that have gone to that better place now.

Sunday, October 09, 2011

The little neighborhood event that we seem to catch year after year. Once a year the Avondale Fire Department has it's open house and it's ususally a blast. From the singing fire man to the free hot dogs and ice cream, kids and grownups enjoy this event.

The firestation is withing walking distance from my house so at around ten in the morning we headed that way, I made sure to take my appetite with me.

I'll have to of those and two of the other ones please. Thank you very much!

After food we went out and admired those always very clean fire trucks. Some more picture taking took place.

Something about those ladder trucks that just captivate me specially when they have the ladders extended in a way that it almost seem they can reach the sky.

Avondle is the home of PIR - Phoenix Internationl Raceway.

Then I asked if I could take Diego and Ducky to the movies and Junior asked which movie was I taking them to, I said "Real Steel" looked like a fun movie for them and it turned out he wanted to watch it too so we asked Loyiel if he wanted to join and he said yes. So we all headed to the 2:00 p.m. show.

The movie was violent in a non violent way, after all the fights were fought by machines and somehow it feels like it doesn't count. The kids and enjoyed it and so did I.

Monday, October 03, 2011

I was always told "God know best, and He know why He does it" so with that in mind I accept what comes my way weather it's good or bad, understanding that there needs to be a balance sometimes is not easy but it is definitely necessary.

I definitely think it's a blessing to wake up in the morning and to be able to thank Him for the chance of another day, for a chance to better yourself, for a chance to right your wrongs, for a change to struggle through the day, and just plain for the one more chance. It's up to us to accept the challenge and to go after it, He did his part, now we must do ours.

I find myself in one of those moments in time where faith, acceptance, and lots of planning is in my immediate future, and yet I feel so up to the challenge and I accept it with open arms. Looking back God has been nothing but good to me so I know that He has no intention of changing things for me, but once in a while He does mixes it up just to give us a wake up call and to remind us that life should never be a routine, and that each day is a new challenge and a new opportunity.

I am definitely excited and looking forward to see what He has in store for me, but I know He does not want me to sit and wait for it, but to go out and look for it. So with that in mind, I say future, here I come.